Although many are whinging about the federal government's decision to stop forcing people to fill in the census long form, it is great news, and for more than just the obvious reasons.

In the past, if a person didn't fill in the Census long form, she'd be threatened with fines and a possible prison term.  These threats are over. The federal government has replaced the mandatory long form with a voluntary survey.

Less coercion from a supposedly democratic government is good, and less invasion of privacy is also good. Does the federal government need to know whether you are an Eskimo, run a farm or what your property taxes are? Not only are these kinds of questions intrusive, they are available in other government departments.

And there are less obvious reasons to support less government data collection.  

One is the amount of resources used to collect and produce statistics. In 2008, Statistics Canada's bureaucrat salary cost alone was $512 million.

Another is the private cost to collect statistics. Although most small businesses divert staff resources from productive activities to filling in mandatory Statistics Canada surveys, in 2008, 11 per cent hired external service providers. Surely they could have found a better use for their scarce resources.

But the most important reason to support less government data gathering is that statistics are critical to the existence of government intervention in the lives of its citizens.

When you or I want something or need to figure something out, we don't look at statistics. We look at advertisements, talk to friends, or fall back on our personal experience in the marketplace.

Bureaucrats and busybody meddling do-gooders however, need information that is outside of their personal experience, so they need statistical information. The only way for them to find out how many mink escaped or died on fur farms in Canada, or how many non permanent resident women aged 20-24 live in Canada, is through government statistics. The only way they can find out who 'needs' other peoples' money is through statistics.

Sure, a lot of people, like journalists and those working at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, sometimes use census and other Statscan data. But our supporters will be better off when we save millions of dollars once government gets out of the stats business.